OpenAI’s board of directors announced on Friday that they have turned down a substantial bid of $97.4 billion from Elon Musk and a group of investors who sought to take control of the artificial intelligence organization. This decision marks a significant escalation in the ongoing dispute between Musk and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman.

In an official statement, Bret Taylor, chairman of the OpenAI board, emphasized, “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest effort to disrupt his competition.”

Furthermore, OpenAI communicated directly with Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, explaining that the proposed bid was “not in the best interests of OAI’s mission.”

At this time, neither Musk nor Toberoff has provided comments regarding the situation.

The rejection comes on the heels of Musk’s recent offer, which was made on Monday, targeting the assets of the nonprofit organization that oversees OpenAI. Musk’s proposal appears to interfere with Altman’s plans to modify OpenAI’s corporate structure, moving authority away from the nonprofit framework and towards its investors, which include Microsoft.

Musk and Altman have had a contentious relationship for several years. Musk co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015 alongside Altman and others. However, he departed the organization in 2018 after a dispute over control. Subsequently, Altman transitioned OpenAI into a for-profit model to secure the necessary funding for advancing AI technologies.

The nonprofit entity continues to oversee OpenAI, yet Altman and his team have been pursuing a strategy to shift control from the nonprofit to their investors. Musk’s recent bid could complicate these ongoing developments.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that The New York Times has sued both OpenAI and Microsoft regarding allegations of copyright infringement related to AI-generated news content. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have denied these allegations.

This story is still unfolding. Stay tuned for further updates.

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